Superfund Quiz Review
What are the top 5 most common hazardous chemicals found in a Superfund site?
5. Polychlorinated Biphenyls 4. Vinyl Chloride 3. Mercury 2. Lead 1. Arsenic
What was built there?
99th Street School was built (educational facility built on top of a toxic waste dump in Love Canal, New York)
What was the Hooker Chemical?
A manufacturer that stored hazardous waste in drums beneath Love Canal, New York
Who is Lois Gibbs?
A resident of Love Canal, New York, who organized her community to pressure leaders to clean up the area's toxic waste and relocate residents to a safer area. She also noticed her son developing asthma and having seizures when attending 99th Street School
What happened to Love Canal after it was cleaned up?
After Love Canal got cleaned up, many houses and apartments were built
Why did the water disposal problem start?
All the unearthed trash pits that are underground are thousands of years old
What is an "orphan site"? Who pays?
An orphan site is if there are no PRP's to be found then Superfund pays for the entire cleanup. But after Superfund went bankrupt, future cleanups were done with taxpayer money
When did the waste disposal problem start?
Civilizations have always had to deal with the problem
Who is the EPA and what was their role with superfunds?
Environmental Protection Agency, role is to "protect human health and the environment"
What was the name of the company?
Hooker Chemical
Describe what happened for the next 33 years with the canal?
Hooker Chemical dumped 22,000 tons of hazardous waste into the canal
Did Hooker Chemical ever have to pay any money to clean up the site?
No because there were no laws regulating the dumping of hazardous waste when they were in business
Who originally paid for clean up? Who pays now?
Polluters were originally paying for clean and not PRP's are available for clean up
What is PRP?
Potentially Responsible Parties
How often is only one person responsible to a Superfund sites pollution?
Rarely
What are the 2 categories that are used to label Superfund sites?
Remedial (Superfund area approved for long-term cleanup of toxic waste, such as a landfill) and removal (Superfund area approved for immediate emergency cleanup of toxic waste, such as an oil spill)
What year did the water disposal problem start?
The 19th century, the Industrial Revolution
What is HRS?
The Hazard Ranking System
Who bought the land? How much did it cost?
The Niagara Falls local school board bought the land and paid $1 to get it
What happened after William Love's plan failed?
The canal left a deep ditch in the land
What happened to kids shoes and dogs who walked through the area?
The children's shoes melted to the pavement and the dogs would burn their noses as they touched the chemicals coming up from the ground, and people started getting sick
What happened to the children who were born to children who grew up at the Love Canal site?
There are still signs of the same rate of birth defects
What happens to Superfund sites after they have been cleaned up (provide an example)?
They turn into urban areas (city life) or green spaces (undeveloped land used for recreation)
Who was William Love and what was his original plan?
Was a businessman that proposed a canal to connect parts of the Niagara River in New York State
Where was toxic waste dumped before regulations?
Wherever the polluters pleased
What is Superfund?
a congressional fund to clean up hazardous waste sites
What is the purpose of Superfund?
passed as (CERCLA) then (SARA). - a response to the widespread problem of hazardous wastes originating from inactive or abandoned industrial sites. -created procedures to assess and re-mediate the pollution at sites, set criteria for identifying parties to be held financially responsible for site cleanup and established a fun to pay for cleanup if no responsible party could be identified.
